The Original Series (TOS) Season 2 Guest Reviews

Amok Time

Synopsis

Stardate not given: Synopsis in main TOS listing

Commentary

"Amok Time", what a great episode. I first watched this episode a few years ago in
syndication one late night when I was free. It was absolutely wonderful. The acting was the best of TOS, Spock's especially. His reactions where absolutely perfect for the situation.

I also enjoyed the music. The guitar riff was something new for Star Trek. The episode centers around Spock going through
pon farr, or the urge to mate. They travel back to Vulcan, where Captain Kirk faces off against Spock.
This was a big deal because Spock and Kirk are the best of friends. They wouldn't fight, and showing this shows exactly how irrational and illogical Spock was, and it explains to the audience just how powerful the
pon farr is.

The audience also sees Vulcan for the first time. It is a rocky world without many cities. Or
at least, not many cities that can be seen. In this episode we also see a lot of Vulcan culture,
which is very cool.

Annotations

Amok Time

Synopsis

Stardate not given: Synopsis in main TOS listing

Commentary

Watch out! Star Trek goes sexual! And for once, it's not Kirk getting all the action.

This episode is one of the best (and most popular) of TOS. I've always thought that the approach to Spock's madness was very well done, and well acted. Nevertheless, it also has some unintentionally funny moments.

Annotations

Remarkable dialogue: "There's nothing to get upset about, Spock. It happens
to the birds and the bees." - "The birds and the bee are not Vulcans!" -Kirk and Spock

Remarkably bad prop: Spock beats up his computer with his fist, but it smashes apart like clay or
paper.

Rating: 8 (David Borgos)

The Doomsday Machine

Synopsis

Stardate 4202.9: The Enterprise receives a distress call from the USS Constellation. When the Enterprise reaches system L-374, they
discover the crippled Constellation with her captain, Commodore Matt Decker, as its sole survivor. Decker tells Kirk that his ship was
attacked by a "planet killer". Decker explains that he beamed his crew down to the third planet of the system. The entire crew was
killed when the planet killer destroyed the planet. Decker then beams over to the Enterprise while Kirk and Scotty remain on the Constellation. Decker
then assumes command of the Enterprise when Spock refuses to prevent the planet killer from proceeding to Rigel. His attempt to destroy the
planet killer fails and the Enterprise barely escapes with the help of the crippled Constellation. Spock then relieves Decker of command under the
authority of Kirk. Dejected, Decker then hijacks a shuttlecraft and flies it into the maw of the planet killer. Decker is killed instantly. The
plan failed but it inspires Kirk to fly the Constellation into the planet killer himself. Scotty rigs a thirty second delay to the impulse engines
which will overload when the timer reaches zero. Kirk then proceeds to fly the Constellation into the maw of the planet killer and then engages the
thirty second timer. Kirk then asks to be transported back to the Enterprise, but the transporter is not functioning. Scotty manages to repair the
transporter and Kirk beams aboard just before the impulse engines explode. The explosion destroys the planet killer.

Commentary

"The Doomsday Machine" is by far the best Original Series episode ever made. The script was well written, featuring many memorable quotes.
The storyline is also beautifully written. William Windom does a fantastic job portraying Commodore Matt Decker. The
special effects are a little weak, as they all were in the 1960s, but they are fun to look at. This episode has a lot of action in it, which is why
I think it's the best. But another thing that makes this episode truly fantastic is it shows a Starfleet officer suffering from a severe mental breakdown and strong
delusions (Decker). I highly suggest this episode to EVERYONE.

Annotations

Funny miscue: The Constellation appears barely damaged, even though almost all its systems are shot. I guess the
special effects team did the best they could with a Constitution Class model and a soldering iron.

Famous quote: "It's miles long, with a maw that could swallow a dozen starships."
-Matt Decker on the planet killer

Famous dialogue: Decker: "They say there's no devil, Jim, but there is, right out of hell I saw it."
Kirk: "Matt, where's your crew?"
Decker: "On the third planet."
Kirk: "There is no third planet."
Decker says sobbingly: "Don't you think I know that? There was, but not anymore! They called me, they begged me for help, four hundred of them!
I couldn't, I..I couldn't!"

Rating: 10 (Nathaniel Scripa)

The Doomsday Machine

Synopsis

Stardate not given: Synopsis in main TOS listing

Commentary

This was probably the first Star Trek thing I ever saw, and it made quite an impression on a blank-minded 3 year-old at the time.
Even today this remains my favorite Star Trek episode. But looking at it from the series perspective?
We get treated to a full model rather than a blinking light effect, we get several suspense scenes and a fight scene that Kirk is
actually not involved in (I bet nobody saw that coming). The Constellation always looked smaller than the Enterprise
(I later found out it was an AMT model damaged with a soldering iron) and even in the Remastered this doesn't seem to be
corrected. Other than that I didn't find anything wrong with it.

Annotations

Nitpicking: Though it would have been useless, why didn't Decker try firing torpedoes?
Many sources say they are x times as powerful as phasers and Decker, as a commodore, should have known that.

Remarkable quote: "He gave his life in attempt to save others, not the worst way to go." (Kirk to Spock about Decker)

Remarkable ship: The Planet-Killer, probably one of the most basic yet most complicated designs
yet (basic as in a paper-mâché cone spray painted blue, complicated as in all the technobabble going with
it).

Rating: 9 (Hanzou)

Mirror, Mirror

Synopsis

Stardate not given: While trying to persuade the Hawkins to allow Starfleet to mine
dilithium on their homeworld, an ion storm causes the transporter to cross time and space, sending Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura to a parallel universe (and their mirror counterparts to their own universe). In this dimension, the ISS Enterprise (representing the ruthless Terran Empire) has threatened the Hawkins to let them mine their
dilithium or the ship will open fire. Even though the Halkans' time to consider has expired, Kirk (undercover as his mirror counterpart) extends that time limit, shocking his bridge crew. Mirror Spock becomes suspicious of Kirk. Mirror
Chekov and his private henchmen try to kill Kirk in a corridor, but Kirk fights back and
sentences Chekov to the agony booth. You know what, just go look at EAS's summary, this is taking too long.

Commentary

The Mirror Universe is one of my favorite plot lines in the entire
Trek franchise. It is a perfect allegory for Humanity's dark side, and how society could be drastically different if that dark side is allowed to
flourish.

I've always wondered what Imperial Earth would be like in this universe. Would is be like ancient Rome, with giant pillars and villas, and an ordered society, or would it be a run-down, individualistic disaster area where people do whatever they please at the cost of
others, like something out of A Clockwork Orange.

I've also read David Mack's novel The Sorrows of Empire, which tells of Mirror Spock's rise to leadership after the events of the original episode. I highly
recommend it.

Annotations

Remarkable non-Trek quote: "It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct." -Sigmund Freud

Remarkable quote: "What is it you want, Spock? Money? Power? I can get you power, Spock! I can get that
for you!!" -Mirror Kirk to Spock,
"In every revolution, there is one man with a vision." -Kirk to Mirror
Spock

Remarkable Treknology: The agoniser; the agony booth; the Tantalus field

Remarkable acting: Throughout the episode, Kirk's portrayal of his mirror counterpart is highly unlike the actual character. Mirror Kirk is vicious,
courageous, and fearless, while our Kirk is calm and remote. No wonder Mirror Spock was suspicious!

Remarkable scene: The fight between
the regular crewmembers, Spock, and Sulu in sickbay.

Remarkable fact: The closing scene with Kirk and Marlena on the bridge would later be used as the closing scene in DS9:
"Trials and Tribble-ations", with Marlena being replaced with Captain Sisko.

Rating: 10 (David B.)

Bread and Circuses

Synopsis

Stardate not given: OK so we know the Story, the Enterprise gets a distress call from the SS Beagle with someone Kirk knew from the Academy who flunked out. When they finally meet we find that some of the crew has assimilated with the "Roman" society, the rest went to the games to die as Barbarians. The Proconsul wants to coerce Kirk to get more Enterprise
crewmen down to participate in the games, the Proconsul (who seems
quite up on the Prime Directive and other Star Fleet Regulations) seems to have Kirk in a legal bind, knowing he can't interfere with this culture and order the Enterprise to effect a rescue or torch the planet surface, he's trying to get Kirk to just order then
men down there because sooner or later, they will come just like the Beagle's crew did.

Commentary

I have never understood this episode:

I will submit that
because of Merik himself and the guards who train their guns on Kirk when given a communicator (knowing he can transport) that this planet is already contaminated to a degree. These guys don't bat an eye over advanced technology like communicators and beaming, the guards serve regardless and unfazed. I thank Kirk could've have given them another General Order 24 as in "A Taste of
Armageddon". This society would have been far less capable of defending itself then Eminiar 7 and given up.

Which brings
another point. The Proconsul is aware of the Beagle and its technology and all he is concerned about is bringing more bodies in the
gladiator games. The Beagle carried lots of advanced technology (like Phasers) that could have made the Proconsul a very rich and powerful man. What he couldn't get from the Beagle he could have more then acquired from the Enterprise. Unlike in "A Piece Of The Action" where Kirk tried to put ideas in the head of Jojo Kracko's men in "A Piece of the Action" that
"having a phaser
could make a man a pretty big boss himself". These guys were totally uninterested in acquiring more power,
(or even telling the Senate "Hey there are Aliens here and the Proconsul is hiding them!"), they just care about getting more victims for their games - apparently no one cares where the bodies come from just as long as they are there. Scotty could've (for example) interrupted the video feed and exploded a torpedo high above the city and would have had everybody panicked, including the Emperor and the
Senate - whom I'm sure don't know about the "Aliens" among them. Kirk could have threatened to wipe out the Empire and no one from the Federation would be wiser - I'm sure the Proconsul would have bent.

But as I first watched this when it first came out in 1968 and again today I am still bothered by the banter when McCoy as they are both trapped in
jail decides he's going to trap Spock and try to poke holes in his logic following him around the cell trying to get him to break then seeming to be glad
when he sees Spock crack and going for Spock's jugular. "Do you know why you're not afraid to die, Spock? You're more afraid of living. Each day you stay alive is just one more day you might slip and let your human half peek out. That's it, isn't it? Insecurity. Why, you wouldn't know what to do with a genuine, warm, decent
feeling." - The same as the uncalled for harassment in the "Galileo 7". When the rest of the crew is thinking survival he rather come close to badgering Spock for being in command. Both those
and other incidents are uncalled for and have given me a bad taste on the McCoy character.

Annotations

Remarkable dialog: The humor of Spock and McCoy came out in the games when Spock's opponent says
"Fight you pointy eared freak!" and McCoy (while getting his shield pounded with a sword) yells back
"You tell him Buster!.."

Remarkable facts:

The Roman Police wasn't bothered by Spock's ears, automatically assuming he was a Barbarian. They've seen Barbarians that look like him? Might
a biological study seem more in order like "Patterns of Force"

It appears the "Roman Empire" doesn't dominate the whole planet. With the reference to Barbarians perhaps beyond the borders and the Enterprise being a
ship out to sea.

Remarkable quote: "You bring this network's ratings down, Flavius, and we'll do a special on you!"
I am beginning to think this episode may be more about the greediness of network television
then the parallel to the Roman society.

Rating: 2 (Erik)

Patterns of Force

Synopsis

Stardate 2530.4: The Enterprise goes to the planet Ekos in search of scientist John Gill. Kirk and Spock are
surprised to see Nazis on the planet when they
beam down. They find that Gill is the planet's führer! Kirk and Spock now must find Gill and get him to end this planet's Nazi regime. They then steal some
Nazi uniforms, but are quickly discovered and imprisoned. Kirk and Spock then manage to escape and get the heavily
drugged Gill to tell the people that
he has been manipulated and that the must stop a planned invasion of a nearby planet. Gill is then
assassinated but the crisis is already over.

Commentary

This is one of the only times I actually disagree with Bernd. I find this episode to be quite entertaining. Yes, it may be distasteful and
share a similar plot as other episodes, but the plot of fixing a violation of the Prime Directive never gets old. The idea of Nazis existing in another part
of the galaxy is a bit odd, but it still makes for a good episode. This is one of my favorite TOS episodes. So watch it, and see what you think.